We  pledge  ourselves  anew  to  the  Constitutional  doctrines  andtraditions 
of  the  Democratic  party ,  as  illustrated  by  the  teachings  and  example  of  a  long 
line  of  Democratic  statesmen  and  patriots ,  and  embodied  in  the  platform  of 
the  last  National  Convention  of  the  party—  Democratic  Platform, 

WILLIAM  H.  ENGLISH. 

His  Record  as  a  Civilian  in  the  33d,  34th 
and  35th  Congresses. 


His  “Teachings  and  Example,” 


The  Floridas  and  Texas,  in  1845,  were  admitted  into  the  Union  as  slave 
States.  Out  of  the  Louisiana  territory  purchased  of  France  in  1803  hy  the  Uni¬ 
ted  States,  Louisiana  in  1812,  and  Missouri  in  1820,  were  formed  into  slave  States 
and  admitted  into  the  Union.  In  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  March  6, 1820,  ad¬ 
mitting  Missouri,  Congress  adopted  what  is  known  in  history  as  the  “Missouri 
Compromise  ” — a  stipulation,  as  one  of  the  conditions  of  Missouri’s  admission  as 
a  slave  State ,  “that  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  un¬ 
der  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies  north  of  36°  30'  of  north  latitude,  not  in¬ 
cluded  within  the  limits  of  the  State  [Missouri]  contemplated  by  this  act,  slavery 
and  involuntary  servitude,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes  whereof  the 
par  ties,  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be  and  is  hereby  forever  prohibited.^ 

This  great  landmark,  hxing  the  boundary  between  Slavery  and  Freedom, 
was  extended  in  1845  by  the  resolutions  admitting  Texas  into  the  Union,  and 
was  not  disturbed  by  the  compromise  of  1850.  Consequently,  in  1854,  at  the 
date  of  the  Kansas -Nebraska  act,  this  compromise  was  a  law  of  the  land.  In 
1820  its  passage  was  claimed  as  a  victory  for  the  South  — a  triumph  of  slavery, 
In  the  language  of  Senator  Benton,  of  Missouri,  “  it  was  a  law  forced  by  the 
South  upon  the  North.”  Hitherto  all  its  benefits  had  inured  to  slavery.  But 
Kansas,  in  1854  a  new  object  of  pro-slavery  rapacity,  being  a  part  of  the  “  Lou¬ 
isiana  purchase,”  and  north  of  36°  30'  north  latitude,  this  compromise  prohib¬ 
ited  the  introduction  of  slavery  within  its  limits.  Hence  the  “pro-slavery 
Propaganda”  arrogantly  demanded  its  repeal.  The  Democracy  obsequiously 
responded  by  the  incorporation  into  the  Kansas-Nebraska  bill  of  its  14th  sec¬ 
tion,  which  declares  *that  “  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  March  6,  1820,”  embracing 
the  Missouri  Compromise ,  “  being  inconsistent  with  the  principles  ”  of  the  compro¬ 
mise  of  1850,  “is  hereby  declared  inoperative  and  void ” — that  is,  hereby  repealed. 

•  That  was  the  situation  when  the  Hon.  William  H.  English,  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  Vice-President,  became  a  member  of  the  33d  Congress.  Did 
Mr.  English  range  himself  on  the  side  of  freedom J?  On  the  contrary,  did  he 
not  vote  for  the  “  Kansas-Nebraska  infamy ” — vote  to  repeal  the  Missouri  Compro¬ 
mise — vote  to  destroy  a  great  “  landmark  of  freedom” — in  support  of  the  “Propa¬ 
ganda,”  a  pro-slavery  minority,  as  the  dominant  class  of  the  Nation  ?  And  what 
was  the  result  of  such  “teachings  and  example ?”  A  protracted,  sanguinary, 
and  cruel  struggle  on  the  plains  of  Kansas  between  Slavery  and  Freedom. 

Even  while  the  repeal  was  pending  in  Congress  the  Propaganda  was  ac- 
tiyely  but  secretly  populating  Kansas  with  armed  emissaries.  The  supporters 
of  the  President  and  of  Senators  in  the  plot  circulated  the  story  that  no  one 
would  be  allowed  to  settle  on  the  lands  of  that  Territory  until  they  had  been 
surveyed  and  were  offered  for  sale  by  the  Government.  In  the  meantime 
delegations  of  the  Indians  occupying  the  lands  were  rushed  on  to  Washington, 
treaties  made  with  them  extinguishing  their  title,  and  the  agents  of  the  Prop¬ 
aganda  in  Missouri  privately  telegraphed  of  the  fact,  with  instructions  to 
locate  upon  the  lands.  Thus  a  multitude  of  Missourians,  armed  and  confed¬ 
erated  m  s'ecret  lodges — “Blue  Lodges,”  “ Kickapoo  Bangers,”  “Sons  of  the 
South,”  “Social  Baucis,”  “ Friends ’  Society,”  et  al.,  with  passwords,  sigms,  and 
grips,  by  which  their  members  were  known  to  each  other  —  were  enabled  to 
settle  upon  some  of  the  best  lands  in  the  Territory  in  advance  even  of  a  public 
knowledge  of  the  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  thk  “ Constitution  and  the  Union,”  “North¬ 
ern  aggression,”  “ non-intervention ,”  and  “popular  sovereignty,”  were  the  phari- 


2 


gaical  cries  under  which  the  “  Propaganda”  operated  its  plot  against  Freedom, 
with  which  it  cloaked  its  treason  to  liberty  and  free  institutions ;  as  “  law  and 
order'1'1  was  the  fraudulent  cry  under  which  it  justified  the  massacre  and  out¬ 
rage  in  Kansas  of  the  friends  of  Freedom. 

None  understood  that  better  than  the  Hon.  William  H.  English.  Never¬ 
theless,  in  the  House,  in  the  debate  upon  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compro¬ 
mise,  Mr.  English  exclaims:  “I  want  no  better  platform  than  the  Constitu¬ 
tion” — that  is,  the  Constitution  with  the  pro-slavery  interpretation  of  tli© 
“  Propaganda.”  He  affirms  that  he  is  “sworn  to  cnpport”  that  instrument— 
that  as  “a  good  citizen”  he  is  bound  to  support  the  “constitutional  rights”  of 
the  South  —  the  rights  of  slavery  in  its  desolating  march  for  the  conquest  of 
Freedom.  He  even  indulges  in  the  almost  blasphemous  cant  of  the  “  Propa- 
ganda  ”  about  the  divine  blessings  of  slavery  to  the  African  race.  He  declares— 

I  do  notdoubt  that  its  [slavery’s]  existence  in  the  United  States  will,  by  colonization 
and  otherwise,  be  made  under  Divine  Providence  a  moans  of  Christianizing,  civilizing,  and 
regenerating  the  whole  African  raoe,  now  but  one  degree  removed  from  the  brute  creation. 

Unwittingly,  however,  Mr.  English  describes  the  real  situation,  the  real 
issue  involved — the  usurpation,  the  lawless  claim  of  a  minority  to  dominate  the 
majority.  He  very  innocently  affirms :  “The  white  population  of  the  North 
doubles  that  of  the  South ;”  “  a  majority  of  the  [white]  inhabitants  of  the 
South  do  not  own  slaves,”  nor  do  they  desire  slavery.  Nevertheless,  at  the 
command  of  a  pro -slavery  minority,  a  great  “landmark  of  freedom,”  a  formid¬ 
able  barrier  to  the  barbarous  progress  of  slavery,  was  stricken  down  and 
destroyed,  and  that  as  a  “  constitutional  right”  of  the  South.  That  Mr.  Eng¬ 
lish  calls  “  a  vindication  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people.”  In  his  indignation 
he  denounces  all  allied  in  hostility  to  the  new  projects  of  the  “  Propaganda” 
as  a  disreputable  commingling  of— 

•  Black^spirits  and  white, 

Blue  spirits  and  grey, 

and  as  fouler  in  all  the  elements  of  their  organization,  as  in  their  purposes, 
than  the  witches’  broth  in  Macbeth !  No  such  organization  should  command 
his  sympathy  and  support,  His  allegiance  was  due  to  the  South — to  the  Con¬ 
stitution  and  slavery;  and  he  pledges  the  Northern  Democracy — “the  great 
mass  of  the  Democracy  North — to  stand  firm  by  their  Southern  brethren.”  Mr, 
English,  indeed,  apparently  delights  in  the  prospect  of  strife.  He  exclaims: 

Hay  on  MacDuff, 

An,d  damned  be  him  that  first  cries,  “Hold,  enough  !” 

Thus  encouraged,  thus  assured  of  the  support  of  the  Democracy,  North  and 
South,  the  “  Propaganda”  let  loose  upon  Kansas  all  the  demons  of  disorder 
and  strife — plunder,  conflagration,  assassination,  and  massacre ;  and  for  years, 
supported  and  protected ‘by  the  Democratic  administration  at  Washington,  by 
officers  appointed  by  the  President,  by  courts  and  juries,  and  the  United 
States  troops,  maintained  a  reign  of  terrorism  and  blood  through  the  most  law¬ 
less  and  criminal  acts.  Freedom  was  outlawed — Slavery  was  enthroned  as  King. 

Elections  in  the  territory  under  the  Kansas- Nebraska  act  were  all  brutal 
farces.  The  first,  those  for  delegate  to  Congress  (November  29,  1854,)  and  for 
the  choice  of  a  territorial  legislature  (March  30,  1855,)  were  held  under  Gov- 
ernor  Keeder’s  proclamations,  which  required  all  persons  presenting  them¬ 
selves  a§  voters  to  swear  that  they  were  bona  fide  residents  of  Kansas.  But  a 
few  days  previous  to  the  election  for  delegate  General  Stringfellow,  of  Mis¬ 
souri,  in  an  address  to  a  crowd  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  published  the  follow¬ 
ing  as  the  law  of  the  “  Propaganda”  for  the  government  of  the  election  : 

I  tell  you  to  mark  every  scoundrel  anlong  you  that  is  the  least  tainted  with  Freesoilism 

or  Abolitionism,  and  exterminate  him.  Neither  give  nor  take  quarter  from  the  d - d  rascals. 

I  propose  to  mark  them  in  this  house,  and  on  the  present  occasion,  so  you  may  crush  them 
out.  To  those  who  have  qualms  of  conscience  as  to  violating  laws,  State  or  National ,  the  time 
has  come  when  such  impositions  must  be  disregarded,  as  your  rights  and  property  are  in 
danger ;  and  I advise  ybu  one  and  all  to  enter  every  election  district  in  Kansas  in  defiance  of 
Reeder  and  his  vile  myrmidons  and  vote  at  the  point  of  the  bowie-knife  and  revolver. 
Neither  give  nor  take  quarter,  as  our  case  demands  it.  It  is  enough  that  the  slave-holding  in¬ 
terest  wills  it,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal.  What  right  has,  G-overnor  Reeder  to  rule  Mis¬ 
sourians  in  Kansas  ?  His  proclamation  and  prescribed  oath  must  be  repudiated.  It  is  your 
interest  to  do  so.  Mind  that  slavery  is  established  where  it  is  not  prohibited. 

Accordingly,  the  Missourians,  in  gangs  aggregating  thousands,  armed  with 
muskets,  revolvers,  and  bowie-knives,  and  supported  by  cannon,  also  “plen¬ 
tifully  supplied  Avith  whisky  and  rations,”  and  “  carrying  their  own  tents,” 
invaded  Kansas,  appeared  at  and  seized  every  poll  in  the  territory,  expelled 
the  lawful  judges  and  resident  voters,  and  rolled  up  “  decisive  majorities”  for 
the  Propagandist  candidates.  Thus  General  Whitfield  was  elected  delegate 
to  Congress  ;  and  nearly  eAmry  pro-slavery  candidate  to  both  houses  of  the 
territorial  legislature.  The  Squatter  Sovereign,  a  pro-slavery  organ  published  in 


3 


Missouri,  in  noticing  the  entry  on  their  return  of  some  of  these  “emigrants  to 
Kansas”  into  Independence,  Missouri,  declares  : 

They  [the  emigrants]  were  preceded  by  the  Westport  and  Independence  brass  bands 
They  came  in  at  the  west  side  of  the  public  square  and  proceeded  entirely  around  it,  the 
bands  cheering  us  with  fine  music  and  the  emigrants  with. good  news.  Immediately  follow¬ 
ing  the  hands  were  about  203  horsemen  in  regular  order  ;  following  these  were  150  wagons, 
carriages,  &c.  They  gave  repeated  cheers  for  Kansas  and  Missouri.  They  reported  that  not 
an  anti-slavery  man  will  be  in  the  Legislature  of  Kansas— we  have  made  a  clean  sweep. 

At  a  subsequent  election,  held  under  all  the  forms  of  the  law,  Gov.  Reeder 
was  chosen  delegate  by  a  large  majority  of  the  actual  residents  of  the  Terri¬ 
tory,  and  he  contested  Whitfield’s  seat  in  the  National  House  of.  Representa¬ 
tives.  In  that  contest  Mr.  English  opposed  a  motion  to  investigate  the  Propa¬ 
gandist  outrages  in  Kansas.  In  his  disgust  at  the  motion  he  raises  the  cry  of 
‘'Blade  Republican,”  “ Black  Republican,”  and  labors  to  overwhelm  with  con¬ 
tempt  and  odium  the  friends  of  Freedom  and  a  free  ballot.  His  reasoning  in 
support  of  Whitfield  is  equally  characteristic.  He  argues  substantially :  At 
the  first  election,  under  Gov.  Reeder’s  own  proclamation,  General  Whitfield 
had  an  overwhelming  majority — 2,900  votes  to  36  magnanimously  conceded  to 
Reeder — an  almost  unanimous  vote.  Where  at  that  election  were  the  friends 
of  Reeder  ¥  If  violence  had  been  used,  if  outrages  and  wrongs  had  been  perpe¬ 
trated  in  Kansas,  if  the  friends  of  Reeder  had  been  violently  ejected  from  the 
polls,  the  North,  the  friends  of  Freedom  and  law,  were  the  aggressors.  It  was  their 
hostility  to  the  subjugation  of  Kansas  by  the  “Propaganda,”  which  had  “ pro¬ 
voked  retaliation  by  the  people  of  Missouri,”  by  the  law-abiding  Border  Ruffians, 
led  by  the  amiable  and  valiant  Stringfellow.  Manifestly,  to  Mr.  ENGLiSH’smind, 
the  proposition  to  investigate  was  positively  monstrous.  He  exclaims  : 

Why,  sir,  grant  the  powers  asked  for  [to  send  for  persons  and  papers]  and  one  half  of  the 
dissatisfied  spirits  of  Kansas  will  be  brought  here  to  give  evidence— to  say  nothing  of  the 
Freesoil  zealots  and  “willing  witnesses”  from  other  quarters-^-and  all  at  the  expense  of  the 
Government. 

Hence,  by  his  voice  and  vote.  Mr.  English  opposed  all  inquiry  into  the 
outrages  and  frauds  of  Whitfield’s  so-called  election. 

The  Legislature  thus  elected,  this  “Bogus  Legislature,”  met  July  2,  1855. 
To  some  of  the  members,  returned  as  described  above,  Gov.  Reeder  refused 
the  usual  certificate  of  election,  and  ordered  new  elections  at  which,  in  the 
absence  of  the  Missourians,  Free  State  men  were  elected  by  the  actual  residents. 
The  Legislature,  without  a  hearing,  promptly  rejected  the  Free  State  men, 
and  seated  the  Propagandists  chosen  by  the  Missourians.  The  few  Free  State 
men  admitted  to  seats  resigned,  refusing  to  hold  seats  in  such  a  “bogus  body,” 
and  the  Propagandists  in  consequence  obtained  unanimous  control  of  both 
houses  of  the  Legislature.  In  violation  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act,  and  over 
the  veto  of  the  Governor,  it  transferred  the  territorial  seat  of  government  from 
Pawnee  to  Lecompton  on  the  Missouri  border.  It  enacted  a  law  requiring 
northern  emigrants  to  take  an  oath  to  support  the  “  Fugitive- slave  law,”  the 
Kansas-Nebraska  act,  and  the  acts  of  their  “Bogus  Legislature,”  and  one 
authorizing  the  marshal  of  the  Territory  to  confine  prisoners  in  the  jails  of 
Missouri.  -It  adopted  as  the  laws  of  Kansas  the  pro-slavery  code  of  Missouri — 
a  body  of  barbarous  acts — “a  bloody  and  brutal  code” — which  made  a  servile 
allegiance  to  slavery  the  only  condition  upon  which  an  emigrant  might  settle  in 
Kansas.  All  liberty  of  speech,  all  freedom  of  press,  all  the  rights  of  person 
and  property,  were  rudely  stamped  out;  and  the  courts  and  juries  were  con¬ 
verted  into  engines  of  tyranny.  “No  person  conscientiously  opposed”  to 
slavery,  or  “who  does  not  admit  the  right  to  hold  slaves,”  could  be  a  juror  in 
cases  where  the  question  of  slavery  was  involved,  or  in  which  was  involved 
“the  punishment  of  crime  against  the  right  to  such  [slave]  property.”  All 
blacks  or  mulattos  were  regarded  as  slaves.  In  every  case  the  negro  was  com¬ 
pelled  to  prove  his  freedom,  not  the  master  or  claimant  his  right  of  prop¬ 
erty  in  the  black.  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus  and  appeals  to  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  were  prohibited  in  all  cases  where  slavery  was  interested — in 
cases  “involving  the  question  of  personal  freedom,”  and  the  whipping  post 
was  established  for  the  punishment  of  offenses  by  the  slaves.  The  “speaking 
or  writing,”  or  the  introduction  into  the  Territory  of  any  writing  or  publica¬ 
tion  denying  “Hie  right  to  hold  slaves  in  Kansas,”  was  made  a  felony  punish¬ 
able  by  “ imprwpnment  at  hard  labor  for  a  term  of  not  less  than  two  years.11  All 
printing  or  publications,  or  the  introduction  into  Kansas  of  any  print  or  pub¬ 
lication,  calculated  to  cause  “rebellious  disaffection”  among  the  slaves  in  the 
Territory,  or  to  induce  them  to  escape,  was  made  a  felony  punishable  by  “  im¬ 
prisonment  at  hard  labor  for  a  term  not  less  than  five  years.1 

White  slavery,  indeed,  was  enacted  under  the  most  revolting  forms.  Every  white 
person  convicted  under  these  laws,  and  sentenced  to  a  term  of  years  at  hard 
labor,  was  “ deemed  a  convict,11  and  “while  engaged  at  such  labor,”  either  for 
the  public  or  for  individuals  who  might  buy  his  services,  was  “to  be  securely 


4 


confined  by  a  chain  six  feet  in  length,  of  not  less  than  four-sixteenths  nor  more 
than  three-eighths  of  an  inch  links,  with  around  ball  of  iron  not  less  than  four  nor 
more  tha  n  six  inches  in  diameter  a  ttached,  which  chain  shall  be  securely  fastened 
to  the  ankle  of  such  convict  with  a  strong  lock  and  key 11  or  (‘by  other  chains  or 
other  means,  at  the  “  discretion'1'1  of  the  jailor.  “  Two  or  more  such  convicts  shall 
be  fastened  together  by  strong  chains  with  strong  locks  and  keys.11 

Hence,  for  the  exercise  of  the  freedom  of  speech,  for  the  extraordinary 
crime  of  printing  or  publishing  anything  denying  the  legal  existence  of  slavery 
in  Kansas,  or  resisting  its  introduction  into  the  Territory;,  a  white  man,  no 
matter  how  high  his  standing,  or  how  pronounced  his  abilities  and  worth, 
might  be  reduced  to  a  bondage  even  more  revolting  than  negro  slavery,  ironed 
and  forced  to  labor  for  the  public  or  for  some  vulgar  or  brutal  Border  Ruffian. 
Nor  did  such  degrading  and  cruel  enactments,  such  violations  of  the  Constitu¬ 
tion  and  the  rights  of  personshmder  it,  satisfy  the  pro-slavery  spirit  which  domi¬ 
nated  in  the  Legislature.  It  must  have  blood.  Hence,  to  “  decoy,  entice,  or 
carry  away  out  of  this  Territory”  any  slave,  “with  intent  to  effect  or  procure 
the  freedom  of  such  slave,”  was  made  a  capital  offense,  punishable  with  death! 

Every  “free  white  male  inhabitant,11  every  Missourian,  in  the  Territory  on 
election  day  was  declared  a  citizen  and  voter  ;  but  the  bulk  of  the  actual  resi¬ 
dents  were  practically  disfranchised — all  who  refused  to  swear  to  support  the 
“Fugitive  Slave  acts,”  the  Kansas-Nebraska  act,  and  the  laws  of  the  “Bogus 
Legislature.”  In  joint  session  of  the  two  houses,  this  “Bogus  Legislature” 
elected  as  local  or  county  officers — as  judges,  magistrates,  sheriffs,  constables, 
et  at. — all  pro-slavery  men,  many  of  them  non-residents,  and  for  long  terms — 
some  of  them  for  six  years;  and  a  law  was  enacted  “  to  organize*. discipline, 
and  govern  the  militia  of  the  territory.”  The  people  were  not  allowed  to  elect 
even  a  corporal.  The  governor  was  to  appoint  the  generals  and  colonels; 
the  colonels  to  appoint  the  captains,  and  the  captains  the  lieutenants,  ser¬ 
geants,  corporals,  and  musicians,  and  one  half  of  all  the  male  residents  of  the 
territory  of  military  age  were  on  election  day  required  to  assemble  as  militia 
under  the  orders  of  pro-slavery  officers.  The  House  Committee  which  in  185G 
investigated  “Kansas  Affairs”  says  in  its  report: 

“  Every  Election  has  been  controlled,  not  by  the  actual  settlers,  hut  by  citizens  of  Mis¬ 
souri  ;  ancl  as  a  consequence  every  officer  in  the  Territory,  from  constables  to, legislators,  ex¬ 
cept  those  appointed  by  the  President,  owe  their  po  sition  to  non-resident  voters.  None  have 
been  elected  bythe  settlers,  and  your  committee  hav  e  been  unable  to  find  that  any  political 
power  whatever,  however  unimportant ,  has  been  exercised  by  the  people  of  the  Territory .” 

In  an  address  at  Easton,  Pa.,  Governor  Reeder  sadly  admitted : 

It  is,  indeed,  too  true  that  Kansas  has  been  invaded,  conquered,  subjugated  by  armed 
forces  from  beyond  the  borders,  led  by  a  fanatical  spirit  trampling  under  foot  the  principles 
of  the  Kansas  bill  and  the  right  of  suffrage. 

Hence,  Governor  Reeder  refused  to  recognize  the  “  Bogus  Legislature,” 
anti  to  enforce  its  barbarous  laws.  Having  thus  incurred  the  displeasure  of 
the  “Propaganda,”  he  was  removed  bythe  President,  and,  to  save  his  life,  was 
forced  to  flee  from  the  territory.  He  was  succeeded  as  Governor  by  Wilson 
Shannon,  of  Ohio.  In  an  address  to  the  Missouri  Ruffians  Shannon  pro¬ 
nounced  the  laws  of  the  “Bogus  Legislature”  constitutional,  andhe  attempted 
to  enforce  them  with  relentless  barbarity.  The  “Free  State”  men,  their  lives 
and  property  in  hourly  peril,  with  no  hope  of  protection  for  either  from  courts 
or  laws  or  from  the  territorial  government,  now  decided  to  act.  They  issued 
a  call  for  the  election  of  a  Constitutional  Convention  by  the  bona  fide  settlers 
of  the  Territory.  The  Convention  met  at  Topeka.  It  adopted  a  Constitution 
outlawing  slavery,  and  provided  for  the  election  of  a  State  government  under  it. 
The  Constitution,  ratified  by  a  vote  of  the  actual  settlers,  was  dispatched  to 
Congress,  a  State  government  was  elected,  the  officers  of  which  met  and  or¬ 
ganized  March  4,  1856,  at  Topeka,  subject,  of  course,  to  the  decision  of  Con¬ 
gress  upon  their  petition  for  admission  as  a  State. 

But  these  proceedings,  instead  of  meeting  with  any  favor  or  sympathy  at 
Washington,  were  denounced  by  the  President  and  Senate  as  revolutionary— 
as  constituting  rebellion  and  treason  against  the  authority  and  laws  of  the 
United  States.  The  President  in  proclamation  and  message  indorsed  the 
“Bogus  Legislature,”  and  Governor  Shannon  was  instructed  to  employ  the 
United  States  troops,  all  the  powers  of  the  National  Government  in  the  Terri¬ 
tory,  to  enforce  its  infamous  laws.  General  David  R.  Atchison,  of  Missouri, 
an  ex-Senator  of  the  United  States,  and  but  recently,  as  late  as  1854,  the  pre¬ 
siding  officer  of  the  American  Senate,  now  took  the  field  with  Stringf ellow  as  a 
leader  of  the  marauders.  Under  Atchison’s  public  appeals  to  the  South  for  money 
and  men  for  the  subjugation  of  Kansas,  a  savage  banditti  poured  into  Kansas. 
A  regiment  recruited  in  the  Carolinas,  Alabama,  and  Georgia,  arrived  under  a 
Major  Buford,  with  similar  organizations  from  all  parts  of  the  South,  and 
united  with  the  Missouri  Border  Ruffians.  In  Missouri  United  States  arsenals 


5 


were  plundered  to  arm  its  ruffians.  Others  were  equipped  by  Governor 
Shannon  from  the  territorial  arms  quota  furnished  by  the  War  Department, 
and  all  were  taken  into  the  pay  of  the  United  States  under  calls  of  sheriffs 
and  the  United  States  marshal  as  posses  to  execute  the  laws. 

Again  and  again  was  Kansas  invaded  from  Missouri  by  armed  barbarians 
under  General  Atchison.  In  a  speech  at  Platte  City,  Mo.,  in  describing  these 
raids,  Atchison  boastingly  declares  : 

The  Abolitionists  of  the  North  said  and  published  it  abroad  that  Atchison  was  therewith  * 
a  bo\vie-fcnife  and  revolver ,  and  by  God  'twas  true  !  I  never  did  go  into  that  Territory,  and  I 
never  intend  to  go  into  that  Territory ,  without  being  prepared  for  all  such  kind  of  cattle. 

And  the  most  revolting  atrocities  were  perpetrated  with  absolute  impu¬ 
nity.  Indeed,  Governor  Shannon  encouraged  them  by  his  example.  Says  an 
eye  witness : 

In  one  instance  Governor  Shannon  himself  accompanied  Colonel  Titus  and  Colonel 
Preston  with  thirty  or  forty  United  States  troops  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Hazeltine,  near  Bloom 
ington.  There  were  no  persons  in  the  house  except  the  wife  of  Mr.  Hazeltine  and  their  children, 
the  oldest  of  whom  was  hut  five  years  of  age.  They  proceeded  to  search  the  house,  Governor 
Shannon  remaining  outside,  armed  with  a  Sharp’s  rifle.  After  Colonel  Preston  had  searched 
the  house,  the  Governor  ordered  Colonel  Titus  to  search  it  again,  saying:  ‘God  damn  him, 
he  is  there.’  Mrs.  Hazeltine  asked  the  Governor  what  her  husband  had  done  ?  He  replied  : 
‘Goddamn  him,  I  will  show  him  if  1  get  hold  of  him.  1  will  tear  his  God  damned  heart  out 
of  him;  and  if  you  don’t  lookout,  you  will  share  the  same  fate,  God  damn  you.’  After  remain¬ 
ing  there  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour,  during  which  time  they  continued  to  curse  and 
abuse  the  sick  and  helpless  wife,  they  left  threatening  vengeance  "on  Mr.  Hazeltine  should 
they  succeed  in  finding  him. 

Chief  Justice  Lecompte  lent  the  influence  of  his  example.  In  that  he 
was  emulated  by  Associate  Justice  Cato,  by  the  United  States  marshal,  by 
sheriffs,  and  every  officer  of  the  judiciary  in  Kansas.  Under  “eloquent”  ad¬ 
dresses  from  Lecompte  “Free  State”  men  were  ordered  by  Vigilance  Commit¬ 
tees  to  leave  the  Territory.  Under  his  charges  to  the  grand  jury  the  officers 
elected  under  the  Topeka  Constitution  were  indicted  for  treason,  were  arrested, 
refused  bail,  and  confined  for  months  in  loathsome  jails.  The  Topeka  or  “Free 
State  ”  legislature,  attempting  to  assemble,  were  dispersed  by  the  United  States 
troops.  Its  members  were  arrested  and  imprisoned. 

Buford’s  men  and  the  Missouri  banditti,  spreading  oyer  the  Territory, 
rioted  in  murder  and  plunder.  The  “Free  State”  men  of  Leavenworth,  its  busi¬ 
ness  men  and  some  of  the  most  respectable  in  Kansas,  were  forced  on  steam¬ 
boats,  and  compelled  to  return  North,  and  their  houses  plundered  and  burnt. 

Hundreds  were  forcibly  ejected  from  the  Territory  by  brigands  organized 
as  Vigilance  Committees  and  “Law  and  Order”  associations.  The  banks  of  the 
Missouri  were  guarded  by  armed  mobs  under  Atchison  and  Stringfellow,  steam¬ 
boats  were  boarded,  trunks  broken  open  and  rifled,  and  their  owners  forced  to 
return  North.  The  U.  S.  mail  was  captured  and  plundered.  “  Men  were  at¬ 
tacked  on  the  highway,  robbed,  and  subsequently  imprisoned.  Others  were 
seized  and  searched,  and  their  weapons  of  defense  taken  from  them  without 
compensation.  Horses  were  frequently  taken  and  appropriated.  Oxen  were 
taken  from  the  yoke  while  plowing  and  butchered  m  the  presence  of  their 
owners.”  Towns  like  Ossawatomie  were  assaulted,  sacked  a*id  burnt — their 
citizens  massacred,  or,  with  the  women  and  children,  compelled  to  fly. 

No  condition  or  age  or  sex  was  spared  the  most  brutal  indignities.  William 
Phillips,  a  citizen  of  Leavenworth,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  much  worth,  was 
seized,  carried  across  the  river  into  Missouri,  and  one  side  of  liis  head  shaved ; 
he  was  then  stripped  naked,  tarred  and  feathered,  rode  on  a  rail  a  mile  and  a 
half,  put  up  at  auction  and  sold  as  a  slave  for  one  dollar,  and  ordered  to  leave 
Kansas.  He  was  subsequently  brutally  murdered,  his  house  sacked  and  burnt. 
Preachers  of  the  gospel  were  ridden  on  rails,  and  “  thrown  into  the  Missouri, 
fastened  to  logs  and  left  to  drift  down  its  muddy,  tortuous  current.”  A  candidate 
for  the  Legislature  was  brutally  gashed  with  knives  and  hatchets,  and  then, 
weltering  in  blood,  was  trundled  along  with  gaping  wounds  to  fall  dead  in  the 
face  of  his  wife.  The  act  deprived  her  of  reason.  In  the  mere  wantonness  of 
murder,  “Free  State  ”  men,  on  trifling  wagers,  were  killed  and  scalped. 

Lawrence,  the  principal  town  in  Kansas,  was  made  to  suiter  every  outrage. 
Its  inhabitants  were  “Free  State”  men — the  town  the  citadel  of  t  he  “Free  State” 
movement.  Three  times  was  it  beleaguered  by  the  Border  ltuffians.  Twice 
were  they  baffled  of  their  prey.  Its  hotel,  a  fine  and  costly  structure,  owned 
by  a  “Free  State”  man,  and  its  two  newspapers,  able  “Free  State”  organs,  were 
by  the  grand  jury  of  Douglas  county  indicted  as  nuisances.  An  army  of  Mis¬ 
sourians  under  Atchison,  with  Buford’s  men,  acting  as  a  posse  to  Sheriff  Jones, 
beleaguered  tlffi  town.  In  vain  its  law-abiding  people  appealed  to  Gov.  Shannon 
for  protection ;  he  would  not  interfere.  The  law  and  the  processes  of  the  courts 
must  be  enforced.  In  vain  they  pleaded  that  they  had  violated  no  law — that 
they  had  resisted  no  process  of  the  courts.  The  Governor  was  inexomble. 
Sheriff  Jones,  with  Atchison,  entered  Lawrence  and  demanded  the  surrender 


6 


of  a  few  small  cannon  in  possession  of  tlie  town  and  all  the  arms  of  its  people. 
The  cannon  were  surrendered.  Private  arms  were  not  given  up. 

Upon  the  surrender  of  the  cannon,  General  Atchison  mounted  one  of  the 
captured  pieces  and  addressed  the  brigands  in  the  following  language: 


This  day ,  boys ,  lama  Kickapoo  Ranger.  This  day  is  the  most  glorious  of  my  life.  By 
God,  this  day  have  we  entered  Lawrence  witli  Southern  rights  inscribed,  upon  our  banners,  and 
not  one  damned  Abolitionist  has  dared  to  tire  a  gun.  A  glorious  victory ,  boys ,  by  God  !  W e  have 
entered  tlie  damned  city  and  to-night  the  Abolitionists  will  learn  a  Southern  lesson  that  they 
will  remember  to  the  day  of  their  death ,  That  emigrant  aid  hotel,  with  her  port-holes,  must 
this  day  be  tested  and  it  blown  to  hell.  The  damned  Abolitionist  presses  must  go  into  the 
Kaw  Biver  and  there  soak  out  some  of  their  darkey  love.  And  now,  boys,  we  will  go  in  with 
our  honorable  Jones,  [the  Sheriff,  who  had  just  ridden  up  to  them,]  and  test  the  strength  of 
that  damned  Free  State  hotel,  and  teach  the  Emigrant  Aid  Society  that  Kansas  shall  be  ours, 
If  the  men  or  women  undertake  to  stop  us  we  will  hang  them ,  by  God.  A  lady  is  entitled  to  the 
protection  of  every  gentleman,  and  I  trust  that  ladies  will  be  respected  by  all  gentlemen.  Rut 
when  a  woman  takes  upon  herself  the  garb  of  a  soldier  by  carrying  a  Sharp's  rifle ,  then  she  is 
no  more  worthy  your  protection  than  a  savage  brute.  She  is  no  longer  a  woman ,  and ,  by  God , 
treat  her  as  you  find  her ,  and  trample  her  under  foot  as  you  would  a  snake.  I  now  give  you 
into  the  hands  of  Sheriff  Jones,  to  become  his  posse ,  and  assist  him  in  enforcing  the  laws  of 
Kansas.  Come  on,  boys,  to  your  duty  to  yourselves,  and  to  your  Southern  friends.  Your 
duty  1  know  you  will  do  faithfully,  and  if  a  man  or  woman  dare  to  stand  before  you  blow  them 
to  hell  with  a  chunk  of  cold  lead  ! 


Tlie  hotel  was  reduced  to  ashes.  The  material  and  type  of  the  “Free  State’7 
organs  were  destroyed,  and  thrown  into  the  river ;  the  dwelling  of  the  Hon. 
Charles  Robinson,  the  Governor  elected  under  the  Topeka  constitution,  was 
burned;  the  women  and  children  driven  in  terror  from  their  homes,  and  the 
town  sacked.  Everything  valuable  was  stolen — letters,  valuable  papers,  arms, 
and  money — even  the  clothing  of  the  women  and  children,  and  what  the  ruf¬ 
fians  could  not  carry  off  they  destroyed 

All  over  Kansas  similar  atrocities  were  perpetrated  in  the  name  of  the 
law,  by  the  officers  of  the  law.  The  “Free  State”  men  finally  took  up  arms; 
and  after  a  series  of  sanguinary  conflicts,  in  which  many  valuable  lives  were 
lost,  expelled  the  barbarous  banditti  from  the  soil  of  Kansas. 

Meanwhile  Governor  Shannon  had  been  removed.  General  Geary,  who 
succeeded  him  as  Governor,  finding  himself  powerless  against  the  Missouri 
borderers,  resigned,  and  the  Hon.  Robert  J.  Walker  was  appointed. 

The  bogus  pro-slavery  legislature  adopted  a  call  for  a  Constitutional  Con¬ 
vention  preliminary  to  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  State.  The  apportion¬ 
ment  of  the  law  under  which  it  was  held  disfranchising  the  “Free  State”  men, 
they  refused  to  participate  in  this  election,  and  consequently  the  convention 
was  composed  wholly  of  the  most  violent  Propagandists.  It  met  at  Lecomp- 
ton  in  September,  1857,  but  immediately  adjourned  over  until  after  the  election 
for  a  territorial  legislature.  At  this  election  the  “Free  State”  men  won  a 
complete  victory.  They  polled  7,680  votes  to  3,700  by  the  Propagandists, 
elected  9  of  the  13  councilmen,  and  27  of  the  39  representatives. 

The  “  Bogus  Convention”  reassembled  at  Lecompton.  It  adopted  what  L 
known  as  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  which  established  slavery  over  Kansas, 
and  provided  for  submitting  its  slavery  clause  to  the  registered  voters  of  the 
Territory,  but  tinder  such  conditions  as  to  render  it  a  practical  fraud.  The 
ballots  were  to  read The  Constitution  with  Slavery ,”  or  “  The  Constitution 
without  Slavery. ”  In  either  case  the  constitution  would  be  adopted.  It  also 
provided  for  the  election  of  a  State  government  and  a  member  of  Congress; 
deprived  the  legislature  of  all  practical  power  by  providing  that  all  existing 
territorial  laws  not  repugnant  to  the  constitution  shall  continue  in  force  until 
altered,  amended,  or  repealed  by  a  legislature  assembled  under  the  constitution; 
and  provided  that  all  the  “bogus”  officials,  civil  and  military,  of  the  Territory 
shall  continue  in  office  until  superseded  by  the  authority  of  theState.  It  also  pro¬ 
vided  that  no  amendment  to  the  constitution  shall  be  made  previous  to  1864. 

Even  Governor  Walker,  a  pro-slavery  man,  indignantly  condemned  such  a 
document.  It  nevertheless  was  indorsed  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet, 
and  under  it  Congress  by  message  was  asked  to  admit  Kansas  as  a  State. 

In  consequence  ol  this  Propagandist  deviltry  for  the  subjugation  of  Kan¬ 
sas,  a  natura  l  outcrop  ot  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  a  mighty  strug¬ 
gle,  from  1854  to  1*860,  in  Congress  and  the  country,  was  maintained  between  the 
friends  of  free  and  slave  Kansas — between  the  friends  and  opponents  of  a  free  bal¬ 
lot— the  friends  and  opponents  of  the  right  of  a  majority  to  rule!  What,  in  that 
conflict,  was  the  attitude  of  Wm.  H.  English  7  Was  itnottliat  of  an  opponent  of  free 
Kansas — an  opponent  of  a  free  ballot  and  of  the  right  of  a  majority  to  ruie ? 

As  we  have  seen,  Mr.  English  voted  in  the  first  instance  for  the  “  Kansas- 
Nebraska  infamy” —  for  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Comprofnise,  and  for  a 
renewal  of  the  slavery  agitation  which  enabled  tlie  “Propaganda”  to  precipi¬ 
tate  the  South  into  rebellion,  and  to  involve  the  North  in  an  appalling  war  for 
the  preservation  of  the  Union!  He  voted  against  all  investigation  into  the 
sanguinary  and  brutal  Propagandist  outrages  in  Kansas  and  voted  to  seat  in 


7 


tli©  House  the  Kansas  pro -slavery  delegate  elected  through  outrage  and  fraud. 
At  the  second  session  of  the  34th  Congress  Mr.  English  voted  against  the  Grow 
bill,  which  denounced  the  pro-slavery  legislature  of  Kansas  as  chosen  in  vio¬ 
lence  and  fraud —  as  “usurpers”  — which  repealed  its  “cruel  and  oppressive 
laws,”  and  provided  for  the  organization  and  government  of  the  Territory  by 
its  actual  or  bona  fide  settlers;  or,  in  other  words,  Mr.  English  voted  to 
maintain  “the  brutal  pro-slavery  code  of  Kansas,”  and  to  justify  the  “Border 
Ruffians”  in  their  outrages  and  crimes  for  the  subjugation  of  Kansas! 

THE  OUTRAGE  ON  SENATOR  SUMNER. 

The  Hon.  Charles  Sumner,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  on  the  19th 
and  20th  of  May,  1856,  dared,  in  severe  but  parliamentary  language,  to  denounce 
the  “crime  against  Kansas” — dared  to  arraign  its  authors  and  supporters  as 
guilty  of  crimes  against  Humanity  and  Freedom !  For  that,  for  the  exercise 
of  a  plain  constitutional  right,  for  the.  performance  of  a  duty  which,  as  a 
Senator,  he  owed  to  the  Nation  and  his  State,  Mr.  Sumner,  two  days  later,  was 
assaulted  in  the  Senate  by  Preston  S.  Brooks,  of  South  Carolina,  Says  the 
Hon.  Anson  Burlingame,  in  a  speech  in  the  Elouse  : 

The  Senator  from  Massachusetts  [Mr.  Sumner]  sat  in  the  silence  of  the  Senate  Chamber 
engaged  in  the  employments  appertaining  to  his  office,  when  a  member  from  this  House,  who 
had  taken  an  oath  to  sustain  the  Constitution,  stale  into  the  Senate— that  place  which  hacl 
hitherto  been  held  sacred  against  violence— and  snWte  him  as  Cain  smote  his  brother.  *  *  * 

One  blow  was  enough ;  but  it  did  not  satiate  the  wrath  of  that  spirit  which  pur¬ 
sued  him  through  two  days.  Again  and  again ,  quicker  and  faster,  fell  the  leaden  blows  until 
he  was  torn  away  from  his  victim ,  when  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts  fell  into  the  arms  of 
his  f  riends,  and  his  blood  ran  down  on  the  Senate  floor. 

The  whole  Nation  was  startled,  outraged,  by  this  transfer  to  the  United 
States  Senate  of  the  murderous  methods  of  the  “Border  Ruffian”  for  the  sup¬ 
pression  of  free  speech.  The  House  promptly  investigated.  Its  committee 
reported  a  resolution  for  the  expulsion  of  Brooks  and  the  censure  of  his  ac¬ 
complices,  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  and  Edmundson,  of  Virginia.  Every 
law-abiding  man  throughout  the  civilized  world  condemned  and  reprobated 
Brooks’  act.  But  William  H.  English  did  not  feel  it  so  deeply.  As  he  voted 
against  the  repeal  of  the  “brutal  code  of  Kansas,”  so  Mr.  English  voted 
against  the  resolution  for  the  expulsion  of  Brooks,  and  for  the  censure  of  his  ac¬ 
complices,  Edmundson  and  Keitt !  As  he  voted  to  protect  the  “Border  Ruffian”  in 
his  tyranny  and  crimes,  so  Mr.  English  voted  to  shield  Brooks  and  his  accom¬ 
plices  from  the  consequences  of  their  attempted  assassination  of  Charles  Sumner ! 

And  the  animus  or  spirit  which  manifestly  influenced  these  votes  charac¬ 
terizes  Mr.  English’s  congressional  career  dining  all  this  great  struggle  be¬ 
tween  Freedom  and  Slavery ! 

In  the  33d,  34th,  and  35th  Congresses,  while  supporting  the  Propagandist 
measures  for  the  aggrandizement  of  slavery,  Mr.  English  proudly  announces 
the  doctrines  of  his  political  faith.  He  also  treats  us  to  an  elaborate  indictment 
of  the  Republican  party.  Its  heaviest  count  is,  that  in  every  State  where  the 
Republican  party  had  obtained  control  it  had  instantly  banished  the  infamous 
“Black  Code”  with  which  the  Democracy  had  disgraced  the  Statute  Book — 
had  remodeled  the  institutions  of  the  State  in  conformity  with  the  civilization 
and  progress  of  the  age.  It  had  even  admitted  that  the  African  was  a  human 
being  capable  of  improvement  like  other  men,  had  admitted  him  to  colleges 
and  established  schools  for  his  instruction — had  even  established  precedents 
which  admitted  that  by  labor  and  culture  he  might  become  a  lawyer  or  doctor  or 
a  member  of  any  learned  professipn.  To  Mr.  English’s  comprehensive  states¬ 
manship,  therefore,  the  Republican  was  a  sectioual  party — “a  party  with  one 
idea,  and  that  one  idea  is  the  negro !  ”  He  exclaims : 

Separate  them  [the  Republicans]  from  Sambo  and  Cuffee  and  they  are  as  helpless  as 
babes.  *  *  *  How  long  will  it  be  [if  the  Republicans  obtain  power]  before  Hon.  Pompey 
Smash,  Frpd.  Douglas,  or  some  other  kinky-headed  and  thick-lipped  darkey  presents  himself 
here,  all  redolent  with  the  peculiar  odor  of  his  race,  to  claim  a  seat  as  one  of  the  people’s  repre¬ 
sentatives. 

Hence,  in  Mr.  English’s  judgment,  the  salvation  of  the  Nation,  the  per¬ 
petuity  of  its  institutions,  and  the  liberties  and  rights  of  its  people,  rested 
wholly  upon  the  pro -slavery  Democracy. 

All  around  him,  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  as  throughout  the  South,  was 
heard  the  defiant  and  treasonable  declaration  that  if  the  North  closes  us  out 
of  the  Territories,  if  it  elect  a  President  upon  an  anti- slavery  platform,  the 
Union  will  be  dissolved.  All  around  him  was  heard  the  barbarous  doctrine 
that  “ Slavery  ts  national — Freedom  sectionaV ’ — that  “slavery  is  the  natural  and 
normal  condition  of  the  laborer'1'1 — that  “slavery  is  right  and  necessary  whether 


8 


white  or  black!”  At  his  very  side  Lawrence  M.  Keitt,  of  South  Carolina,  an¬ 
nounced  as  a  cardinal  doctrine  of  Democratic  faith  that — 

Slavery  is  a  great  primordial  fact,  rooted  in  the  origin  of  things.  As  a  corollary  to  this 
it  may  he  safely  deduced  that  the  existence  of  laborers  and  mechanics  in  organized  societies 
was  the  result  of  the  partial  and  progressive  emancipation  of  slaves.  *  *  *  History  tells 
us  also  that  when  the  [white]  working  classes  stepped  out  of  the  condition  of  bondage  by 
the  process  of  emancipation,  they  branched  into  four  constantly  recurring  subdivisions— the 
hireling ,  the  beggar ,  the  thief ,  and  the  prostitute ,  which  have  no  general  existence  in 
slave  countries  unless  there  have  been  a  commencement  of  emancipation. 

The  North  at  the  same  moment  was  also  aflame  at  the  infamous  dragoon¬ 
ing  of  its  cities  in  the  execution  of  the  “Fugitive  slave  law.”  The  venerable 
Josiah  Quincy,  sen.,  in  1854,  in  Boston,  Mass.,  exclaimed : 

What  has  been  seen,  what  has  been  felt,  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  this 
metropolis  and  in  this  community,  and  virtually  by  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  Massa¬ 
chusetts  ?  We  have  seen  our  court-house  in  chains,  two  battalions  of  dragoons,  eight  com¬ 
panies  of  artillery,  twelve  companies  of  infantry,  the  whole  constabulary  force  of  the  city 
police,  the  entire  disposable  marine  of  the  United  States,  with  its  artillery  loaded  for  action, 
all  marching  in  support  of  a  pretorian  band  consisting  of  120  friends  and  associates  of  the  United 
States  Marshal,  with  loaded  pistols  and  drawn  swords,  in  military  costume  and  array— for.  what 
purpose?  To  escort  and  conduct  a  poor  trembling  slave  from  a  Boston  courthouse  to  the  fet¬ 
ters  and  lash  of  his  master! 

Nevertheless,  Mr.  English  “proudly”  announces  his  fealty  to  the  Democ¬ 
racy — not  to  the  Douglas  Democracy — he  belonged  “to  no  such  party” — but 
“to  the  great  Democratic  party” — to  the  “Propaganda!”  Instead  of  denoun¬ 
cing  Keitt  and  his  barbarous  doctrines,  he  applauded  him  as  a  distinguished 
leader  of  the  Democracy !  Instead  of  denouncing  the  treasonable  doctrines 
of  secession,  he  admitted  the  right,  but  pleaded  that  his  associates,  the  Propa¬ 
gandist  leaders,  would  not  exercise  the  right — that  they  would  stay  in  the 
Union,  not  for  the  sake  of  the  Union,  nor  for  the  -institutions  and  liberties 
which  it  guarantees,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  Northern  Democracy,  who  would 
be  sacrificed  by  the  Republicans  if  abandoned  by  the  Propaganda.  He  and  the 
Northern  Democracy  were  ready  to  vote  all  they  demanded.  They  were 
troubled  with  no  “sickly  sentimentality  on  the  subject  of  slavery.”’  As  hfi 
had  voted  to  sustain  the  brutal  pro-slavery  code  of  Kansas,  and  the  outrages 
by  which  it  was  maintained,  so  he  was  ready  to  vote  for  the  extension  of  slavery 
— to  admit  slave  States,  to  vote  for  the  enforcement  of  the  “Fugitive  slave  law,” 
to  dragoon  the  North  into  obedience  to  its  mandates — to  coerce  every  Northern 
freeman  to  become  a  slave  hunter  at  the  command  of  the  Propaganda  ! 

In  that  spirit,  and  with  that  declaration  of  principles,  Mr.  English  addressed 
himself  to  the  solution  of  the  pending  Lecompton  issue.  Senator  Green’s  bill 
for  the  admission  of  Kansas  under  the  Lecompton  Constitution  passed  the 
Senate,  but  was  defeated  in  the  House.  In  the  Senate  Mr.  Crittenden,  of  Ken¬ 
tucky,  had  offered  a  substitute.  In  the  House  Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Pennsyl¬ 
vania,  also  moved  the  Crittenden  substitute,  which  was  adopted  by  that  body, 
but  the  Senate  refusing  to  concur,  a  committee  of  conference  was  asked.  Mr. 
William  H.  English,  as  chairman  of  the  House  branch  of  that  commit¬ 
tee,  reported  what  was  called  the  “  English  bill”  for  the  admission  of  Kansas. 
It  sets  out  with  the  patent  falsehood  that  the  Lecompton  Constitution,  the  vi¬ 
olent  product  of  the  Missouri  Ruffians,  was  framed  by  the  people  of  Kansas. 
It  then  provides  for  the  submission  of  the  Constitution  to  a  vote  of  the  people 
of  the  territory,  but  meanly  attempts  to  bribe  the  majority  to  accept  a  Consti¬ 
tution,  to  winch  they  had  again  and  again  expressed  their  repugnance,  by 
large  donations  of  public  lands  for  “school  purposes,”  “for  the  support  of  a 
State  University,”  and  “for  the  purpose  of  completing  the  public  buildings”— 
by  grants  of  “five  per  cent,  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  all  the  public 
lands  within  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  making  roads  and  internal  im¬ 
provements”  and  of  “salt  springs”  for  the  use  of  the  State.  If  the  people  re¬ 
jected  these  munificent  donations,  Kansas  was  to  be  remanded  to  a  territorial 
condition,  and  prohibited  from  coming  in  under  any  other  constitution  until  it 
had  the  full  population  of  93,340.  Either  Slave  Kansas  or  no  Kansas. 

Under  tlie  dragooning  and  influences  of  the  President,  aided  by  Cornelius 
Wendell  with  the  plunder  from  the  public  printing,  this  bill  finally  passed 
both  Houses.  But  the  people  of  Kansas,  indignant  at  so  disreputable  a  propo¬ 
sition,  a  bribe  for  the  abandonment  of  great  principles,  and  being  no  longer 
under  the  terrorism  of  the  Missouri  Ruffians,  rejected  it  by  an  overwhelming 
majority.  The  Nation  in  its  judgment  ratified  that  of  the  people  of  Kansas. 
Mr.  English  and  all  from  the  North  concerned  in  the  Lecompton  plot  were 
relegated  to  private  life,  and  the  attempt  now  by  the  Democracy,  by  his  nom¬ 
ination  as  Vice  President,  to  restore  Mr.  English  to  public  life  will  be  de¬ 
feated  by  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  American  people. 


